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Multiple-Meaning Words

A multiple-meaning word is spelled and said the same way but means different things: a bat flies at night, and you hit a ball with a bat. Context is the only clue, which is why these words are such good reading practice.

Here are 124 multiple-meaning words from past ClueBy puzzles, each with a real example sentence for every meaning. Use them as a reference, or make a printable worksheet below.

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Students read each sentence and write the missing word. Every word appears in several sentences, each time with a different meaning.

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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  2. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  3. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  4. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  5. He is an ace ________________.
  6. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  7. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  8. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  9. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  10. The light ________________ burned out.
  11. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  12. Where did you ________________ them?
  13. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  14. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  15. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  16. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  17. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  18. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  19. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  20. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  21. I've got to change the light ________________.
  22. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  23. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  24. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com

Answer key

  1. degree — an amount
  2. mug — a face
  3. pitcher — a jug
  4. band — a music group
  5. pitcher — in baseball
  6. degree — from a university
  7. tear — to rip
  8. bulb — of a plant
  9. band — a ring
  10. bulb — for light
  11. branch — of a bank
  12. mug — to rob
  13. branch — of a tree
  14. degree — temperature
  15. branch — a division
  16. mug — a cup
  17. pitcher — a jug
  18. bat — for baseball
  19. tear — from crying
  20. tear — from crying
  21. bulb — for light
  22. band — a rubber band
  23. bat — in an idiom
  24. bat — the animal

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

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Frequently asked questions

What are multiple-meaning words?

Words with the same spelling and pronunciation but more than one meaning, like bark (of a dog or of a tree) or bank (for money or of a river). You can only tell which meaning is meant from the rest of the sentence.

Are multiple-meaning words the same as homonyms?

Mostly, yes. Teachers often use "multiple-meaning words" and "homonyms" for the same idea. Homophones are different: they sound alike but are spelled differently, like flour and flower.

Are the worksheets free?

Yes. Make and print as many as you like for home or classroom use. Each sheet has its own link, so you can print the same one again.

Where do the words come from?

From past ClueBy puzzles, a daily game where you sort twelve sentences by their missing word. A new puzzle every day adds four more words to this list.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com